INDEX


Saving an icon without using
Delphi save and load functions


     (Note : only Delphi 3 - and perhaps 4 - makes the poor looking icons I mention in this paragraph, while Delphi 5 makes 32 by 32 icons that turn out properly, most of the time - for an example of what I mean try saving the 'Folder' icon in the Shell32.dll file using Delphi 5, and note that the save is not successful. The code included with this article is also unsuccessful, and the errors it makes are different, as you can tell by comparing the icon it produces with the erroneous icon produced by Delphi 5. There is code on this site that is capable of storing and retrieving the folder icons, and any other icons, although not as an icon file, but rather in a cache file -> Creating an Icon Cache file for a program.). If you have ever tried to save an Icon using Delphi you know that Delphi saves 16 by 16, 16 color icons. These display in an ugly manner when converted for display at 32 by 32 resolution. If you have investigated the Windows API you will see that while Icon loading functions are included there are no functions for saving icons. The code accompanying this article is an attempt to address this problem, and working things out was not a trivial matter. The save routine was based on what I learned about the icon file format and reading Icon files directly from disk. You can also find an explanation using a graphic explaining how a mask and a graphic are combined to create an image with transparency on the screen...


You can download the source code as a Delphi 3 / Delphi project here ... save_icon.zip (16 KB). You can also download the source as a textfile here ... save_icon_d3.txt Dephi 3 or save_icon_d5.txt Delphi 5


     Once you are familiar with the Icon file format, saving an Icon is trivial. If you make your own Icon saving it to an icon file is trivial. However saving an existing Icon is not trivial for a number of reasons. I have found that to speed up the performance of a program I would like to cache icons rather than having to thrash a computer's disk drive reading the registry and then reading a file, and so on, and this experiement in saving an icon to an icon file is part of the process of learning to create this icon cache. What makes saving an icon difficult is that first, an Icon is returned with no palette. This can be solved through some reasoning. For example an icon with a pixelformat of 4 bits has 16 possible colors, and therefore assigning the icon the first 16 entries of the system palette seemed reasonable, and it worked. Whether it will always work is another question, but it has worked so far, and reason seems to suggest that it should. The second problem is that icons are returned with a pixel format of pfDevice, which makes it difficult to determine if an icon is using 16 or 256 colors. For this reason the routine as it is written only saves 32 by 32 4 bit 16 color icons. The API creates smaller icons by shrinking these larger icons, and almost every icon file I have seen on my computer contains one of these large icons in this color format (one icon was 24 bit true color). The routine could be set however to use GetSystemMetrics in the Windows API to find the width and height of an icon, and if it should be the case that it is not 32 by 32, to adjust the code accordingly. There should also be a way to find out what 'pfDevice' means on a particular computer and thus give the routine the ability to save other than 16 color icons.
Delphi INDEX




A Unified Field Theory

 failed_gravity_theory.gif - 10361 Bytes



The Unified Field Theory
is also available as a zip file -> unified.zip

Introduction :The Pioneer Effect and the New Physics. A brief description of the new physics required to explain the 'Pioneer Effect', which is the constant deceleration of space craft as they fly through space.




Principles of Evolution: A Study in the Evolution of Bedbugs


A couple of years ago my bedroom was invaded by bedbugs. There were two variant genetic lines. One type of bedbug was an enlongated, thin, tubular insect, and the second genetic line was a flat, perfectly circular insect. The result of the cross breeding of these two genetically distinct variants was the production of a bedbug with charcteristics of both, an enlongated, flat bedbug with a central bulge (such that the shape of the bedbug was somewhere between 'long' and 'circular'). The long skinny bedbugs were such strange and unfamiliar looking insects that at first I did not recognize them as being bedbugs, and considered them to be a seperate species of insect. However, as the photographs of bedbugs above indicate, enlongated and skinny bedbugs are not uncommon, and the photographs also show the variants that are produced by genetic combinations that result in an insect somewhere in between 'circular' and 'enlongated'.

Therefore it is my hypothesis that evolution occurs by means of the transfer of dominate genes, with the production of such dominant genes being the product of 'biological algorithms', a genetic software program that brings physical characteristics into harmony with behavior, such that when behavior changes, and a conflict then exists, this acts as a trigger and causes the release of dominant genes. The result is rapid evolution of species. The bedbug is a relatively new insect, not the product of millions of years of evolution but rather an insect that is evolving in real time. The newly emerging dominant form of the insect is the flat, round ciruclar insect, well adapted to living in human bedrooms (it is flat, rather than tubular, thus allowing it to hide in the smallest cracks, living a stealthy lifestyle, and it is round, which gives the insect a maximum storage capacity such that it must endanger itself only a few times a month by emerging to feed.

Other examples of rapid evolution include the development of long legs in an invasive species of toad in Australia. As the toads move into the mountainous regions of Australia, and their behvaior changes, making them 'climbing toads', over the course of just a couple of decades the toads in the highlands have grown long legs specially adapted to climbing. It is worth noting here that the toads are poisonous, and are a successful invasive species because they have no natural predators in Australia, and so it would not be the case that the toads with long legs were 'the fittest survivors', because all the toads are survivors, and therefore predation does not explain the rapid emergence and spread of such well adapted, long legged toads. Once again we see evidence for the existence of biological algorithms and the rapid spread of dominant genes through a population, which once introduced proceed to overwhelm the older genes which are being replaced (making toad long legged and a bed bug round and flat).


A Theological Experiment

My interest in pursuing the Unified Field Theory is spurred on by my need to discover the theoretical explanation of a new form of propulsion (as explained on this page: Why the Unified Field Theory?). The experiment involving the bedbugs came out of nowhere.

I also believe that it is possible to justify theological propositions using experimental methods. If a thing is an objective truth then it can be verified and proven true by means of experimentation. Such a theological proposition is of more value than a ‘divine revelation’, since such revelations depend upon nothing more than establishing authority figures which requires the creation of artificial hierarchies, for the only reason why I might be encouraged to believe an authority figure who orders me to believe unsubstantiated opinions is if I could somehow be convinced that this authority possessed a mind that was somehow superior to mine, and thus was fit to express opinions as though opinions were unquestionable facts and thus worthy of being elevated to the status of absolute dogma.

There is a self evident human inequality which is visibly apparent. Some people are ‘beautiful’ and thus are the true elite on this planet, and some people are not. It is this sexual inequality and the degeneration that follows upon beauty that is the true driving force behind all the evil that happens on earth. The need for ruthless oppression and the pursuit of wealth and the consequent creation of suffering and poverty which must follow upon this practice is for the purpose of creating an artificial alpha elite.

The true elites are the young and the beautiful. The artificial elite are the rich and the wealthy. The elite aging rich artificial alpha male has no good looks, for he is physically degenerate, but he will be found escorting beauty because he has a beautiful wallet. If he loses his wallet he will be found at home with all the other unattractive aged beta males sitting in a rocking chair watching reruns of Bonanza. No money, no sex. It is for this reason that the alpha males are found to be so ruthless and so violent in pursuit of their goal. The alpha male has fallen. The beta male has arisen and now the whole planet is full of ruinous destruction for it.

We see in religion a confused and contradictory reaction to this reality. On the one hand religion preaches a sexless heaven where castration and the clitorectomy create ‘pure spirits’. Muslims throw women under sacks. On the other hand religion supports hierarchy and is the prop of the elite alpha male. It is for this reason that religion is incoherent when it comes to speaking about sex.

Now we see this same principle at work in all of nature. Guppies dance and show off their colorful tails and the guppy who dances with the most colorful tail is the sexually successful guppy. Therefore it is the doctrine of the ruthless oppressor which teaches that the solution to human sexual violence is to be found in castration and the creation of pure ghosts. This would be equivalent to damning an aardvark for having the ‘sinful aardvark nature’ or prosecuting an anteater for the high crime of ‘ant genocide’.

Therefore it was my theological hypothesis that the correct solution to this problem is to give every guppy a beautiful colorful tail. I compare this solution to the classic religious solution which is to cut off every tail since having a tail is ‘sinful’. If having a tail is sinful then God must be sinful for no human being has any choice in deciding whether or not they would be born with a colorful tail, or whether they would not.

When I was young I was a beautiful guppy with a lovely tail. So everyone seemed to think. I am older now. My nose became very badly sunburned and destroyed. It seemed good to me to test my hypothesis by using these ‘biological algorithms’ to correct this problem. I healed half my nose as you can see by the line separating the still very dark patch on the side in the photograph below.





I documented my experiment on these pages. one two t hree four fi ve six


I have confirmed to my own satisfaction that my theological proposition is correct and that religious dogma is erroneous, being based as it was upon nothing more than ‘divine revelation’ which is just a form of opinionated speculation. For the time being I am not continuing this experiment, for I must wait until the weather on this planet improves, and the dark clouds of ruthless oppression break letting a little sun shine come through so that I can show the world the truth about God, by showing people how God goes about giving an old guppy back his beautiful colorful tail.


Until then I will have to sit on the sidelines, while all my scientific breakthroughs are deliberately ignored, while I wonder to myself what ever in the world could be wrong with the human race, because what this all will prove at the end of it all is that there definitely was something wrong with the people on this planet.